Fuse for bombs



Aug. 31, 1937- s. P. HUFF ET AL 2,091,281

FUSE FOR BOMBS Filed March 24, 1937 /h| w- [Jill llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll Inventors Mani P- Huff William SummerhellAttclr'T-Ley Patented Aug. 31, 1937 2,091,281 7 FUSE FOR norms SargentP. Hufi, Chevy Chase, Md.,' and William Summerbell, Watervliet, N. Y.

Application March 24,

4 Claims.

1937; Serial No. 132,766

(01. log-s6) (Granted under the act of March 3, 1883, as amended April30, 1928; ere-0.6. 757) The invention described herein may bemanufactured and used by or for the Government for governmentalpurposes, without the payment to us of any royalty thereon.

5 This invention relates to a fuse for bombs.

In a fuse for bombs it is customary to employ a vane unit which rotatesduring flight of the bomb and controls arming of the firing mechanism.In order to insure the safety of the fuse while the bomb is carried inthe launching rack of an aircraft the vane unit is held against rotationby an arming wire which is withdrawn When the bomb is released.

The purpose of this invention is to provide a fuse construction in whichthe vane unit may be readily and conveniently applied to the fuse and adriving connection established by a movement axially of the fuse so thatthe arming wire may be inserted through the vane unit before theassembly operation.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention resides inthe novel arrangement and combination of parts and in the details ofconstruction hereinafter described and. claimed, it being understoodthat changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosedi may be made within the scope of what is claimed Without departing fromthe spirit of the invention.

A practical embodiment of the invention is illustrated in theaccompanying drawing, wherein:

Fig. l is a longitudinal sectional view with parts in elevation of theimproved fuse.

Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the pre-assembled vane unit about to beplaced on the fuse.

'The invention is illustrated as applied to a fuse of the type shown inPatent No. 2,054,111 of September 15, 1936, in which a fuse casing 5that is adapted to be secured to a bomb rotatably mounts a spindle 6whose inner end is arranged to be unthreaded from a member 1 duringflight. A sleeve 8 fixed to the spindle and a nut 53 fixed on the sleevecooperate to establish an inner race for ball bearings ll! while a rotorH has a groove l2 which establishes the outer race for the bearings. Agear [3 is fixed on the sleeve while a gear l4, having one tooth lessthan the gear 13 is loosely mounted thereon and has a pin I4 which holdsit against rotation but permits axial displacement. Both gears are inmesh with a planet pinion I5 carried by the rotor. The purpose of thereduced motion gearing is to enable the rapidly rotating rotor to drivethe spindle at a slow rate.

55 The rotor is provided with a pair of oppositely disposed aperturedears Iii-16 which are held in place by driving pins i! and overlie anapertured flange 18 on the casing 5. A cotter pin 19 inserted throughone set of apertures normally holds the rotor against movement duringtransportation and storage and is removed after the arming wire 2|] isinserted in the opposite set of apertures. This arming wire is part ofthe launching apparatus of an aircraft and is withdrawn when the bomb isreleased.

The vane unit comprises a hollow nut 2|, and an encircling collar 22whose lower or inner end is formed with an internal flange 23, anexternal flange 24- and a pair of slots 25-25. Vanes 26 are formedintegrally with a ring 21 which is supported on the external flange 24and secured by rivets 28 positioned in line with the slots 25. A pin 29on the collar extends into an annular groove 38 in the outer surface ofthe nut 2i and maintains the assembly of these units while permittingrelative longitudinal and rotational movement. One or more of the vanesare provided with an aperture 3| for receiving the arming wire 20.

The bomb including the fuse without the vane unit is mounted in place onthe aircraft and the 2 arming wire 20 applied to hold the rotor ll,after which the cotter pin I9 is removed. The vane unit is now assembledto the fuse by moving it axially thereof and prior to or during theoperation the arming wire is passed through the aperture 31 in the vane.The collar 22 is advanced until it engages the rotor II, the slots 25receiving the driving pins I! which now hold the collar againstrotational displacement. The nut 2! is now threaded onto the rotor untilit is brought up against the internal flange 23 of the collar. The nutnow serves to hold the collar in driving engagement with the pins I! onthe rotor.

When the bomb is launched, the air pressure acts on the vanes 26 to spinthe collar 22 and the collar acts through the pins I! to drive therotor. The movement of the rotor controls the arming of the fuse throughthe specific gear 4 ing a collar and a nut within the collar, means forconnecting the collar and nut for relative rotational and limitedsliding movement, said collar'having slots for receiving the pins on therotor, vanes on the collar at least one of which is'engageable by thearming wire, and said nut when threaded on the rotor engaging andmaintaining the collar in driving engagement with the rotor.

3. In a fuse, the combination with a support, a rotor mounted on thesupport and an arming wire engaging the support and rotor, of aprassembled vane unit comprising a collar and a nut arranged forrelative rotational and limited sliding movement, vanes on the collar atleast one of which is engageable by the arming wire, and said nut whenthreaded 0n the rotor engaging and maintaining the collar in drivingengagement with the rotor.

4. In a fuse, a support, a rotor mounted on the support, an arming wirepassing through the support and rotor, a member movable axially of thefuse into driving engagement with the rotor and having means whereby itis engaged by the arming wire, and. a nut within said member andthreaded'on the rotor, said nut engaging and maintaining said member indriving engagement with the rotor.

SARGENT P. HUFF. WILLIAM SUMMERBELL.

